Traditions Old:
(anyone else disgusted I’m still posting about Christmas??!!)
Family togetherness and love
Wii entertainment
Winger’s for Christmas Eve dinner: Yum yum
Christmas jammies and other goodies from Nana (this time, monogrammed fleece blankets- big hit with this girl I know who loves all things soft)
Christmas games and chimes
Reindeer food and cookies with eggnog for Santa
“Night before Christmas”
Late, late night for mom and dad (like 3:30!)
Caramel rolls for breakfast
Yummy Christmas day dinner
Bad, bad photography skills as the result of many factors, one being my stinking new lens
(Look at those 2 cuties)
Traditions New:
Santa hat? I know- goofball, right?
Singing toothbrushes and Charlie Brown Christmas recording book to remind us of our Nana always
Pizza Perfect and drive through Christmas light park night before Christmas Eve
Staying up late with grandma and grandpa great Christmas Eve and giggling at their stories of setting up Christmas back in their day
Christmas at our house!!!!!! (what?? and only 8 years later!) We had so much fun hosting everyone this year, having Santa come to us, and opening presents around our own tree!
(-)2 sisters this year (Boo!! The first time in our lives not spending Christmas all together. Boo to growing up and moving away, that’s what I say!)
Skyping Tennessee and Washington
Baby boy reciting “Santa, Ho ho ho- merry Christmas” every time he spies the jolly old man. Or just a bearded man. Or just someone in red. (He did this for months after Christmas, as well as singing “all the way” (jingle bells)) And the reindeer?? Goggies of course!
And jewelry for my my big Christmas gift- I like this new tradition
(yes, he came)
(very bright day- people not bright enough to move to shade)
Traditions borrowed:
Secret Santa (sooo fun and a very close call) Borrowed from our Fondue side
A Disneyland trip (and memorabilia) for Christmas/anniversary/30th birthday present (Not a residual tradition, mind u) My parents did this for us one year and I never forgot it!!!
Completely overdoing it (some things will never change) Also inherited from my side
Church for Christmas- I remember being so bugged as a kid whenever this happened, until my mom explained to me how much she loved it. Now as an adult, I completely understand, and I do believe I’ve inherited her same sentiment!! So glad I can teach my kids how lucky we are when this does happen.
And . . . The flu
About 30 minutes after the Christmas church pictures were taken, Big M began throwing up on the couch and continued doing so throughout the rest of the house, creating a path to the bathroom and thereby solving the mystery of whether he truly was feeling sick to his stomach, or just wanted to stay home from church and play his DS.
He proceeded to throw up a couple more times that Christmas day, and spent the whole evening laying on the floor. Poor tyke.
He did feel a lot better by about bed time, but E did not sleep well at all.
The next morning, we said farewell to our wonderful company and also to any improvement we had seen over little E.
I started feeling a little queasy myself, but tried to ignore it because I had a lot of packing to do and Christmas décor to put away.
I took a gigantic nap that afternoon and woke up feeling worse.
Then the barfing began.
But someone had to pack the whole family for Disneyland, so I spent the afternoon/evening (of my actual anniversary) packing with a bowl beside me as my family watched me take occasional breaks to throw up.
So much for cleaning up Christmas- I barely got a few outfits packed for us all!
Princess C then had a small bout of diarrhea, but seemed to overcome it quickly.
That night, we obtained no sleep between E’s skyrocketing fever and cough, C’s newly obtained cough (none of us were shocked that she’d finally caught E’s respiratory illness) and my own lingering sickness.
Can someone say “uncle?!!”
Daddy D took the babe to the doc bright and early the next morning, who loaded us up with albuterol and more steroid and promised we should soon see the end of these fevers and sleepless nights.
When D returned, I still felt sick and devoid of energy, and big M seemed to have caught the princess’ diarrhea bug.
Yet several hours later we had the car loaded complete with humidifiers, the nebulizer, all of our household cleaners and every drug known to man as we set off on our 4 hour car drive.
As we got ready for bed, we gave the younger two breathing treatments (Baby E said “E’s tuun” right after finishing C’s treatment, and then hopped up on the bed he was so used to the routine by then).
We then hit the sack super early, hoping for a decent night’s sleep.
No such luck.
Although baby E slept without budging for the first time in weeks, Princess C coughed her head off all. night. long.
Sometime in the middle of the night, we got up and took her into the bathroom for another breathing treatment, this time with something stronger than albuterol.
(You can stop reading now- this next part is despicable)
We then made her a big, comfy, plush bed on the bathroom floor. (awful I know)
But although she coughed for a short while after (we could still hear through the walls), she actually improved significantly and we got a few substantial hours of snoozing in.
Well, I did at least.
Daddy D had now caught the diarrhea bug and spent the remainder of the night in the hotel lobby’s restroom.
Then the poor sap had to help load the car and drive us another six hours to Cali. (FYI I did try to drive for him but he insisted he start off and then after taking some drugs he felt less achy and preferred to drive. Weirdo, I know)
If it’s any consolation, I did not sleep a wink the entire road trip cuz I was miserable and uncomfortable.
And that, my friends, is how we said “farewell” to the Christmas flu and kicked off our family vacation to the happiest place on earth.
(WHAT!? Are you doing??)
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